Note: If you haven't read Introduction to a New Project, read that first to understand a little of what's going on.
Short Circuit
Rhyn hated the glaring lights that
his employers used to illuminate the room. He had tried to dim them at first,
but they hadn’t liked him exerting that kind of control on their equipment.
They hadn’t liked it when he had short-circuited the shock therapy generator
either. After that, they had encouraged him to adjust his attitude, and, after
seeing the options they presented, he had decided to get adjusted to the bright
white lights, the white walls that could be easily wiped clean, the table with
the sharp metal edges, and the scratchy white outfit that he had to wear to
work every day.
On the table, lay his latest study
subject. He liked to look these types of things over with his eyes first,
before pouring into it with his mind. He had gotten pretty good at guessing
what his machines were. It seemed that his employers had him look at things
that fell into one of three categories: computing, memory storage, or robotics.
Seeing as this had no arms, legs, or anything that could constitute
semi-sentient servitude, robotics was out of the question. As he gazed over the
chrome surface, he didn’t see any buttons or ports. He had heard that those
types of things had been standard on devices in years past, but the lack of
such was un-perplexing to him now. The chrome seemed to wrap around a tube that
was probably as long as two palms, with a stunted cone on one end.
Without other visual clues, he had
to follow the flutter in his gut. Memory storage, he reasoned. Probably
activated wirelessly, with the capability to download and store any open data
within a certain radius. Probably some sort of satellite in the cone to boost
the range.
Cracking his knuckles and
straightening his back, he breathed in the stale air that moved through the
room. He felt a slight surge of energy; he must have breathed in one of those
nano-robots the company deployed to monitor him remotely. Not the first time
that day either, they were getting sloppy. Maybe he would try the lights again
later. But not now. He was curious about this device before him, its mechanical
voice calling out to him from behind the circuitry. Letting out a sigh, he
flexed his hands, then placed them on the cylinder and pushed his mind through
his fingers into the wires behind the chrome surface.
---
It had been almost five years ago
that his employers had hired him away from his parents. He had been 10 years
old, almost missing the cut-off. He remembered testing day at the school the
week before, where a lady with black hair and a blue face mask and pulled blood
out of his arm through a needle. He had wanted to cry, but the other boys
hadn’t. He didn’t want to be made fun of: there had been enough of that
already. Then it was done, and he had gone back to class, a blotch of blood
making its way through the thin gauze and seeping into his only blue t-shirt.
They had come that day during
dinner time. His parents were, as usual, not hungry so Rhyn and his two
older brothers had split of the pot of rice and the two slices of bread. In mid
bite, pound pound pound. Mama had
opened the door, and two men announced that he, Rhyn, had passed the blood
test. They said something about a stipend and then Rhyn had been sent to his
room to get his favorite toy, a red yo-yo that had blue stars on the sides. His
mother had tears in hers eyes and had gotten his hair wet as she cried into his
straight brown hair. One of the men was glaring at his father, gripping his
pistol that he had by his side. Father was glaring back and didn’t move as Rhyn
hugged him. His brothers had stayed quiet, but he could see they were already
chewing on the piece of bread he had left on his plate. Then, one of the large
men placed his hand on his back and steered him out the door. He hadn’t seen
his family since.
---
Particles
of his consciousness flowed amongst the electrons floating in the copper and
fiber-optics. Within seconds, Rhyn knew the intricate web of wires weaving
through the core connected a small dish in the cone to the motherboard that lay
extended in the middle of the cavity. As he scanned through the junctions that
crisscrossed the CPU, he noticed a batch of memory that hadn’t been locked down.
Did the company accidentally give him an active unit? He pushed a little more
of his thoughts through his fingers, scanning the memory to see if it was
corrupted or infected. He didn’t think a computer virus could infect his mind,
but his bond with machines always made him cautious. Seeing none of the inherent
signs, he willed the memory subroutine to show its secrets.
The image
of a girl with blond hair and piercing blue eyes popped into his vision and a voice
of twittering birds entered his mind. He released the capsule he was holding,
and the image and voice faded into the quiet static of the room. Rhyn looked
around. Same white walls and bright lights. Memory of the type he had accessed
usually didn’t have picture or audio, just pure data. And yet, it had been
there in his mind. Should he access the memory again? He thought it over, but
he curiosity was telling him that, considering it was a part of the coding, it
was just part of the project. He flexed his fingers once more and pressed them
against the metal surface.
Test One Point One, contact. My name is
Eloise and if you are seeing this you are a Circuit Feeler like me. We make
things, we break things, we are the reason that our world has advanced
exponentially in the last decade. I send this message in the hopes that somewhere
there is someone like me. Someone separated from who they once were, who wants
to see their family again and be freed from the curse that the Company has
clamped onto us.
I speak freely because this
message is specially encoded to be read only by one with the powers that you
and I possess. This device can be restructured into a communication device that
would be connected by our minds, instructions at the end of the message. The
access code is Freedom. Together, we
may be able to retire from employment and return home.
The
image in his eyes flickered, the last vision of the girl being a confident
smile. After a few moments, the sight of her face was replaced by a black box
with a blinking orange cursor. He closed his eyes and released the cylinder, letting
it clunk down on the table.
Freedom?
Family? No longer employed by the company? He got up from his chair, the
scratchy outfit lined with beads of sweat. His hands trembled, a nervous tic
leapt through his thumbs. He remembered during his re-education he had been
told that he had no need for his family, that his sole allegiance lay with his
employers. But could it all be true, that others like him had doubts, that
others were uncomfortable under the bright lights and inside the white rooms?
The
thought entered his mind, and as the synapses fired, he knew he would follow
through. He sat back down, breathed in deep, and touched the surface of the
chrome. Finding the file in the memory once more, he activated the video, and
looked into the eyes of Eloise once more. When the text box formed, he uttered
FREEDOM, watching the letters form alongside his thoughts. And underneath his
finger tips, the capsule sprang to life.
The
sound of static in the room amplified, and he could feel tiny points of energy
dropping in onto his skin. He pushed his will through the circuitry forwards to
the cone. The receiver had been reversed, and was now transmitting a raw
signal. As the surges of energy increased against his skin, he felt them
interacting with his mind. The nano-robots. And they were receiving a message.
Destroy all life in the room.
---
“Sir,
the specimen has been terminated. He put up a fight, sending out surges of energy
for 5 minutes before succumbing to the Seeker Drones.”
“It is
unfortunate. I had hoped he had been properly re-educated. We will have to put
an inquiry in place for his instructor. And we will have to inform the
engineers to enhance the durability of the drones.”
“Yes
sir. Any other further actions?”
“See
that our other test subject is properly rewarded. She did a decent job
disguising the Trojan. I believe the code was embedded in the eyes of the image.”
“Yes
sir.”
“Oh,
and make sure to remove the family. No need to keep them on stipends now that
the asset is gone.”
“Of
course, sir. Actions will be undertaken by tomorrow evening.”
“Keep
it classified too. Only our division… And
the chairman, of course.”
“Of
course, sir.”
